After the Battle
by nadvaa-hufflepuffsstrikesback
Summary: Both of them were aware of each other's feeling, or at least that was what Newt thought. Before the wrong publication about his engagement. Before she dated someone else.


"It's late. How about we end this and you can call Miss Goldstein to come here so I can get you two home, Newt? I suppose she's staying at your house?"

"She is," he nodded, for some reason he felt a bit embarrassed. But that didn't stop the smile cracking from his mouth.

"I'll arrange the portkey. It's easier to use the Floo, of course, but I don't have time to tell Travers about our meeting," he smiled, his voice sounded tired. He looked over Newt, the fire was flickering in his eyes. "He is still watching the Floo Network, especially what's coming in and out of my office."

Dumbledore stood up and start searching for something in his glass cabinet. He opened a drawer full of silver trinkets in silence. "I'll go get Tina," declared Newt after eyeing the pensieve cabinet beside him.

He walked toward the door, to the Defence of the Dark Arts classroom. His old classroom. He looked at the seats and spotted Tina sitting two rows behind his old seat. Tina had been waiting alone for about an hour. She didn't mind. She spent the time resting, enjoying being alone in a classroom full of clutter after two full days in the Ministry, answering a lot of questions. Both of them were very tired, and Newt hasn't had a proper bath for a few days.

"Tina!" he called her, nodding his head towards Dumbledore's office.

She looked up from the book she'd been reading, putting it back to the shelf, and walked to him, a little worried. "Do you need me? Does he wanna talk to me, Newt?"

"Um. We're finished. We can go home now, Tina," Newt outstretched his hand to her.

Tina stepped up the stairs to the office, still holding herself elegantly but looked very tired. She took Newt's hand, "You okay with me staying with you? I mean—I don't know anyone in London, but I can—"

"Of course it's okay," he smiled, shaking his head a bit. "You let me stay in your apartment for days months ago." He was referring to the time when they were required to report everything they know about Credence and Grindelwald to MACUSA. Instead of accompanying Newt to find another accommodation, Tina asked him to stay with her and Queenie (slyly, of course).

Newt led Tina with her thankful smile into Dumbledore's office and then closed the door behind them. Dumbledore was already sitting in his desk, with a small copper vase in front of him. He gestured to them so they moved closer to his desk.

"I suggest two spoonfuls of sleeping draught, Miss Goldstein," Dumbledore said. "You'll feel better tomorrow. _Portus!_ "

Newt offered his arm to Tina. She held his arm tightly and they advanced to the portkey. Her lips formed a little smile. "Thank you, Professor Dumbledore," she said.

"We'll meet again to arrange your return to MACUSA on Saturday night. Now come on, the portkey is going in ten seconds."

Newt looked at the vase, that was starting to glow blue. He took his case and thought about a good bath after this trip, and that made him smile. "Good night, Dumbledore," he said, a second before grabbing the portkey.

They arrived just seconds later at Newt's front steps, slightly breathless from the trip. It was 11 at night and Newt was confused to see his sitting room's window gleaming with warm yellow light. Meanwhile, Tina was looking around at Newt's neighbourhood, interest in her eyes.

"Oh. Either it's Bunty or the niffler babies are on the loose again," he sighed. He managed to open the door silently. Both of them were looking at the room expectantly, ready to find some mess.

But it was a quiet room, no baby niffler to be seen. Newt frowned. It's late already, and she's still here? He often found Bunty still working even though it was past her work time. And sometimes she didn't want Newt to pay her overtime. He really liked Bunty because she's dedicated, hardworking, and care about the creatures. But these kinds of times made him slightly uncomfortable. Bunty only said _don't worry, Newt, I love spending time here—with them._

"Bunty?" asked Tina, took off her coat, putting it on the chair. Her gaze drifted all over Newt's house. "Is that one of your creatures?"

Newt took off his overcoat and his coat, picked up Tina's, and put it on the hanger. He rolled up his sleeves and started to boil water. He put his wand behind his ear then opened a box of tea. "Uh. She's my assistant. Should've been gone hours ago," he told her awkwardly with _I'm sorry_ gaze toward Tina.

"You got an assistant?"

"Yes," he answered, spilling a bit of the water while pouring it into a cup. "To help with my creatures. She comes in the morning and leaves after I get home from the Ministry. Please have a seat, Tina."

Newt looked at Tina, who was standing in front of him. She leaned back to the counter, but swiftly changed her position to beside the chair. Newt put down a cup of tea with biscuits to the table. She sat down after the tea. "You only made one? I thought we're gonna sit here together and…" she caught Newt's stare and drifted off.

They locked stares for three seconds before Newt looked away and gave her his shy smile. And then he bolted out of the room while taking off his waistcoat. "I'm really sorry, Tina, please give me a second—Bunty! Oi, Bunty!"

He opened the door to his basement, looking around for Bunty. It was calm inside his basement except only for the sick augurey shrieking weakly. Two cute kneazle kittens coming up to him, asking for snuggles. He picked them up and looked for Bunty while scratching their heads.

"Newt!" shouted Bunty slightly distressed, coming on to him and taking the kneazle kittens away from him. "You came back from Paris! All of a sudden, I thought you can't go abroad? I was worried! I'm so glad you're okay, because—because I heard that… Miss Lestrange…" her voice was gone. She stroked the kittens quietly, stealing glances to Newt. "I'm sorry, Newt," she said quietly.

Newt gave her a little nod and a sad smile. "Thank you, but I'm okay. Now, Bunty, you really don't need to stay here after your hours. Please go home, get some rest," he pleaded, "take the kittens to their mother, and then please, go home."

Bunty looked like she was going to protest. But she brought the kittens to their mother and followed Newt afterwards. "You're sure you don't need anything?"

"It's really late, Bunty, I'm fine. Please rest. Thank you for your help today. And you don't need to come early tomorrow."

She was strolling behind Newt, climbing the staircase. "Why?" she demanded. "Susie needs her morning eye drops! And I haven't finished taking Blue's venom—oh!"

Tina was standing at the end of the steps, behind the open door, holding her cup with two hands.

Newt walked past Tina, giving Bunty more view of her. He stood uncomfortably, moving his body weight on his leg. "Bunty, meet Tina. Tina, this is my assistant, Bunty."

Tina smiled and kindly said, "Hi, Bunty."

"It's you," Bunty muttered under her breath. She was looking at Tina quietly for a second before finally became aware and threw a weak smile to Tina.

"I'm sorry?"

"Ah, no, I'm sorry." she gave her a bigger smile. "Hello, Miss. I just—I'll—" she glanced desperately to Newt. Bunty took a deep breath and walked to the coat hanger. "It is late, yes. Good night, Newt," she waved while wearing her coat hurriedly.

"Night, Bunty," said Newt, looking at her trailing off to the door, and disapparated later.

They stood beside each other quietly, following Bunty's departure. Newt was stealing glances to Tina—they were both finally alone, and he didn't really know what to do. He pushed the basement door close. He hoped to talk to Tina alone about their relationship—maybe later, after a bath, or maybe tomorrow, after a good sleep. He couldn't deny that he had thought about _that Auror_ Queenie mentioned about—Achilles Tolliver—a couple of times.

"You have a very spacious basement, Mr Scamander." Tina broke the silence. "And a lovely house. Can I go down there later?" she pointed her cup to the basement door.

Newt dropped his grim thought about Tina spending a lovely time with a random man. "Yes, of course. Now, don't you want to take a bath? And you can have the guest room tonight. My room is way too messy."

She smiled, a little laugh came from her mouth. "Hmm. Am I that smelly, Newt?"

"...no, but you just slept on Parisian sewer a couple of days ago," he smiled back, walking her toward his sitting room. "Take a hot bath, Tina. I'll bring you my spare pyjamas. Let's go upstairs."

Not that Newt had thought about this repeatedly, but he was happy to finally host Tina in his house. They spent months exchanging letters, with the three latest months in silence. He thought Tina was mad at him because his strong-worded letter about Aurors—but it turned out a stupid magazine had made her mad at him—and started to date another man.

That stupid magazine. Talking rubbish about his engagement to Leta. Leta… his heart painfully pulsated. He can't even look at Theseus, who was engaging his own self with Nagini's case. He wished he had a pensieve, to relieve bad memories from his head. That will help, he thought, because he was so confused about feeling devastated from losing Leta and delighted to finally spend some quiet time with Tina.

They climbed upstairs and Newt showed Tina her room for tonight. It was a clean, small, and humble room. "The bathroom is right next door. This is for you—" he conjured a set of clean pyjamas from his drawer and gave it to her.

"Thanks, Newt. Great color of choice, yellow and blue…," She smiled awkwardly sweet. Newt thought it was so cute that made him want to kiss her—but he didn't. He just stood there, lifting his arm to touch her jaw affectionately.

"I better go, you need to use your bathroom later too," she looked away and headed off to the bathroom. He stood there watching her closed the door.

His bedroom door swung open when he walked into it. " _Lumos_."

He looked at it for ten seconds and decided to tidy up. Newt flicked his wand—a stack of papers sorted out itself and flew into the cabinet, spilt ink on his desk splashing back into its container, books he had signed floating to the box on the corner, and his old blue overcoat drifted off from his bed to his wardrobe.

It wasn't that much, but it made his room look better. There was so much stuff in his room. He kind of forgot that he needed to sign another box of books before next week— he better get that done tomorrow.

Newt lit up the lamp, took off his shirt and suspenders and put it away. He just sat down on his bedside before being startled from hearing a knock on his door.

Tina was peeking from outside. "Newt? Oh."

"Yes, Tina?" Newt stood right up, approaching Tina.

She opened the door a bit wider. "Um… do you have, er, umm... a spare toothbrush?" she asked, flustered. Her cheek turned a darker shade and she had a hard time looking at his eyes.

"Of course," Newt conjured a toothbrush from thin air and gave it to her. She bit her bottom lip. He felt embarrassed but he enjoyed her gaze to his body. He was self-conscious about his appearance.

"That's… that's a lot of scars, Newt," there was a little worry in her tone.

He looked at his right shoulder, where a large burn scar took place. "It all has its story."

"Well, why don't you tell me about your scar stories later, Mr Scamander?" she asked without waiting for an answer, giving him a coy flirtatious smile and then left toward the bathroom.

Newt sniffed a laugh while staring at her back. _Does she still date that Auror?_ He hoped that it was just a fling. _But… what if she still dates that Auror?_ He was thinking about a better looking, well-built man skilled enough to be an Auror. _Just like his brother._ He hated thinking about this.

 _That is why you need to talk to her._ Both of them were aware of each other's feeling, or at least that was what Newt thought. Before the wrong publication about his engagement. Before she dated someone else. He decided not to worry about this and started to check on his wand, looking for damage.

It was not long until Tina called Newt to let him know that she has finished. She looked a lot more relaxed and fresh. She gave him a grin before disappearing behind her door.

He wanted to take a long, hot bath, but he managed to take only a hot shower. He wanted to talk to Tina immediately before she fell asleep. He put on fresh pyjama pants—and considered to ditch the shirt. He enjoyed looking at flustered Tina and being under her longing gaze but it was a chilly night, so he put it on.

Newt was surprised to find Tina already inside his room. She sat on the edge of his bed, tucked her legs while reading his book. The book he promised to give her. Suddenly he remembered that he prepared a book just for her—but it never got to her, because his visa was denied two days after. Said package just sat inside his case, waiting to be given to Tina.

"Tina," said Newt, his heart was beating faster. He wasn't used to having a girl sleeping over at his house, let alone sitting in his room.

She put down his book and smiled weakly. "I bought your book, Newt. Thought you will never come back to New York."

Tina sounded upset and guilty. Newt sat down beside her. "I tried, Tina. Merlin's beard, I tried to apply for my visa five times." There was a silence. "I told you in my last letter when they denied my second application."

Her eyes enlarged. She avoided his eyes and looked very uncomfortable. "Hm. I… I might have not read your last letter," she said, hanging her head down. "I'm sorry I mean—I was—I thought you're gonna tell me about how—how _joyful_ you are about the engagement—"

"I came to Paris just to see you," he said quietly, not looking at her.

She was a little surprised. "Did you? I thought Dumbledore asked you to."

Newt shrugged. "Well, he did ask me. When I thought about it later, the Ministry asked me to go to Paris too. But no, Tina listen—I broke the law for you."

"How did you—" she was beaming, "how did you know that I'm—" her smile left her face. "Huh. Jacob. And Queenie."

He gave her a weak smile. Newt didn't want to mention Queenie. Tina already hid her face inside her palms, her whole body started to tremble.

"She'll be okay, Tina. She's a great asset for Grindelwald. Sure, he might use her only for her gift on Legilimency. But she's a great Occlumens too, you said? She can take care of herself. Grindelwald will spare her."

Tina was sobbing. Her voice muffled from her hands, "B—but—what if, what if the Aurors—y'know, killed her? You're… you're right, Newt. They just—they'll just execute anyone—"

"Theseus will lead this movement," Newt interrupted her. He tried to comfort Tina but he wasn't sure _how._ He embraced her, put her head on his shoulder. "They just assigned him yesterday. He won't let his Aurors carelessly recite the killing curse, I can assure you."

She looked at him. "We should tell him, Newt, I need to tell him about Queenie," she pleaded. "Or will you please tell him, Newt? Oh, you're his brother, he'll listen to you, right? I should've listened to Queenie," she added quietly.

Newt was sure that Theseus won't do a reckless move, even if he didn't know Queenie. But to reassured Tina, he answered, "I will. Of course, Tina. I'll let Theseus know that Queenie is your sister."

He met her eyes. She broke a weak smile. After he finished his manuscript, he imagined visiting her in New York, giving her his book—she's grinning, welcome him to her new office, and maybe they'll have her favourite coffee from the café at the end of the road near her apartment. Soothe, quiet, happy situation. He could try to help Jacob and Queenie if they wanted to elope in England and started their bakery here. And maybe, _maybe—_ a selfish thought flooding his head— it will make Tina want to move to London.

 _Too soon, Newt. Too soon._

She nodded enthusiastically, wiped her eyes, and let out a relieved laugh. Newt caressed her back, his hand lingering there. His room felt warmer with the fire playfully dancing inside the lantern, making the wall flicker. They sat in silence, looking at each other's eyes.

Then her face started getting close to him. Newt nervously backed off a little, but Tina chased him and kissed him. Stunned, his right hand floating around not sure where to rest. She pushed herself into him, embracing his lips desperately. He put his hand on her jaw eventually, pulling her to respond the kiss.

For what happened to be a good few days—or perhaps hours—or actually it might be just a long minute—they finally broke apart. Tina shied away from his stare, hiding her face to Newt's chest. Her ear was bright pink—may be the same colour as his ears. He held her into his chest, rubbing his face to her hair.

"Uh, so… you aren't dating an Auror, then? I heard that—"

"It was only a dinner—no, Newt, I'm not. I did often think about dating a certain magizoologist though," she let a little embarrassed laugh.

She sneaked a glance at him. "Hold me for tonight, will you?"

He couldn't help but grin, _she just kissed me,_ nodded, and held her close. Tina rested her face on his neck. She inhaled deeply, and her breathing became more regular.

They lied down to his narrow bed and she continued to snuggle his neck. He never dreamed about lying in his bed with Tina—he thought about kissing her, maybe, a couple of times, but not like this. He was a bit embarrassed but very much delighted to have her locked on his embrace. He stared on her, admiring both her boldness and softness. This once very intense and strong woman opened her vulnerable side to him.

Tina caressed his chest affectionately. "I really don't mind if you wanna go to sleep without a shirt, Mr. Scamander," she let out a sleepy giggle.


End file.
